Red Bull shone in the absence of a competitive Ferrari car, but there is no doubt they came to Austria with a vengeance.
Securing a second-place finish on home soil with driver Max Verstappen, the team stamped out any remaining doubts regarding Red Bull’s mid-season turnaround.
Max Verstappen admits he feels he can contest for victory. Mine Kasapoglu
It has been a monumental backflip in performance following a sluggish start to their 2026 campaign.
“What I found satisfying is that this was the first time I felt capable of fighting for victory,” Verstappen said post race.
“The competition in the first half of the race was remarkable.”
At the introduction of the 2026 regulations, Verstappen was arguably the grid’s most vocal critic of his new machinery. Red Bull later confessed that the RB22 was drastically overweight, prompting an aggressive mid-season overhaul.
And they have certainly delivered. Red Bull looked formidable at the Red Bull Ring.
Mercedes might have believed the 2026 championship was theirs for the taking at the start of the year, but the party has officially been crashed.
Fresh off his first victory for Ferrari in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton was quick to issue a warning about Red Bull’s sudden resurgence.
“(Red Bull) made a huge step this weekend,” Hamilton said to media.
“They must have brought a 0.3, 0.4s upgrade. Three tenths was just from the weight that they dropped from the car, which is huge.
“Considering they’ve been so close in some of the races, like Monaco, and they were nine kilos overweight. It’s a good showing that they’ve got a good car, and that they just lost that weight.
“And then they brought up lots of upgrades, so they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the following races.”
Mercedes will need to look over their shoulder for their rivals. Denes Erdos/Pool AP via AP
After an untimely crash in qualifying sent the RB22 straight into the barriers, Verstappen was able to regroup, find his way through and stand on the second step on the podium in Spielberg.
Upgrades are only going to accelerate Red Bull after they brought an entirely new car to Austria, working significantly in Verstappen’s favour.
“Includes updates to the floor, rear suspension, rear corner, rear wing and exhaust. Additionally, profile changes to the floorboard have been carried out to improve flow conditioning performance,” the F1 website read of the complete overhaul.
Isack Hadjar, on the other hand, was not where he wanted to be in Austria.
Finishing sixth behind Oscar Piastri, the young driver struggled to find pace to improve, a frustrating continuation of the pattern of struggling second drivers in the Red Bull garage.
Formula 1 is back on track at the British Grand Prix, with the Silverstone race set for 12am AEST, July 6.